Four law firms and 30 partnering legal departments have committed to discovering what works to boost inclusivity in the legal profession. The fund pools resources to ideate, implement, and iterate using behavioral science and data analysis. Together, we are creating systemic change in hiring, developing, advancing, and retaining talent.
of equity partners in large law firms are women, though women represent more than 50% of law school graduating classes.
higher attrition rate for racial minority lawyers in large law firms as compared to white lawyers.
until racial minority equity partners reach parity with their representation in law schools if nothing changes.
Despite decades of hard work by industry stakeholders to diversify the talent pool from law students through law firms and corporate leadership, the needle hasn’t moved far enough, fast enough. Knowing varied approaches are needed, four law firms, more than 30 general counsels, and top community leaders came together through the MTN Fund to create an experimental “laboratory” where bold new approaches were incubated over five years in the law firms and the legal community. These approaches serve as a model for learning and transformative change in the legal profession and beyond.
To uncover new ways to level the playing field in law, Diversity Lab and participating firms take the following actions:
Set challenging, but achievable, metrics-based benchmarks for the firms to achieve over the five years to increase inclusion and provide a roadmap for the broader legal community.
Step 1
Explore and experiment with new approaches to various talent systems by implementing past Diversity in Law Hackathon ideas.
Step 2
Measure the effectiveness of the bias interrupters at the firms using various methods, including detailed talent data analysis, assessments, and more.
Step 3
Share what we learned through the fund with the broader legal community.
Step 4
Four Firms Set Public, Data-Driven Goals
In an almost unprecedented move in the profession, four firms announced metric-based inclusivity objectives and committed to being transparent about what followed. This openness allowed Diversity Lab to report on what works, and what doesn’t, so that the whole industry could learn together.
20 Pilots Tested Across 30+ Practice Groups
The MTN Fund tested pilots at the practice group level, an approach that allowed us to innovate alongside lawyers, and find and iterate on solutions that met their specific needs.
Trailblazing Beyond 2025
The formal efforts of the MTN Fund will continue until 2025 and many pilots born out of the fund will continue to develop and expand. This includes the Diversity Dividends Collective, which provides corporations with a roadmap of DEI “asks” for law firms, the Diverse Leadership Directory, which connects legal departments to a diverse slate of talented partners, and the DEI AV Club, which will launch publicly in 2024 for firms and legal departments to strategically shift their conversations around inclusion in the law.
The four firms committed to experimenting to uncover the most effective DEI initiatives through the MTN Fund are:
If you are interested in learning more about Move the Needle Fund or any of our other pilots, please contact us.
We love new collaborators.